Permutation-lock



c. E. ANABLE. PERMUIATION LOCK.

APPLICATION FILED FEB-14.1918- '1,312,938. Patented Aug. 12, 1919.

Arron/m I Q knob. The floor'of said recess constitutes a CLARENCE E. ANABLE, OF SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA.

PERMUTATION-LOGK.

Application filed February 14, 1918.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CLARENCE E. ANABLE,

a citizen of the United States, residing at Sacramento, in the county of Sacramento and State of Gahforma, have invented certam new and useful Improvements in Permutation-Locks. of which the following is a specification. 1

By this invention a simple permutation lock is produced wherein the operating spindle serves as the locking bolt or itself locks such bolt.

With this operating spindle are associated in an effective way indicating mechanism whereby, in the manipulation of the lock, the combination may be followed by sight, sound or feeling.

The structure and association of parts are also such that the number of combinations to which the lock may be set is practically unlimited.

The invention therefore consists in the structure of parts and in their combination for the purpose specified substantially as herein set forth and claimed.

In the drawings which form a part of this specification, Figure 1 represents in plan the improved lock applied to the steering .blers. Fig. 7 is a transverse section on line 77, Fig. 6. Fig. 8 shows the lock in side elevation applied to the bolt of a safe door.

The chief element of the lock-the spindleis indicated .by 10. This is mounted in a casing made in any suitable way but here shown of two parts, the base 11 for attachment to the structure to be locked and the cap 12 fitting over the base and held in-place by a screw 13. The steering post of an automobile is indicated at 14 and to this the base of thelock may be. secured in any safe way as by strap 15 and rivets 16. The spindle 10 is axially located. in the easing for rotation and reciprocation. The lower edge or shoulder 17 of the head or knob on the spindle is preferably located in a recess in cap 12 sufiiciently deep to prevent the insertion of a prying tool under the Specification of Letters Patent.

Serial No. 217,102.

flange or ledge 18 and in this ledge is'a notch 19, at" either side of which are guard recesses 20 to receive restraining pin 21 should the spindle accidentally turn while 1n unlocked position. When the knob and spindle are made separately the pin 21 may also secure these parts together.

The tumblers consist of concentrically located rings 22 and 23. More may be used 1f desired to multiply-the combinations. Tumbler 22 is preferably provided with a flange to be seated in'arecess in the top of the outer tumbler 23 so thatthey'may be retained in thesame plane; A spring '24 supports the tumbler 23 itself being supported, where need be," by a washer 25 resting on the curved surface of the steering post. When the lock is designed for'attachment to a fiat surface, as'infFig. 8, this washer may be omitted. The tumblers are provided with pins 26, 27 and 28, 29 with which the operating arm 30, projecting from the spindle, may engage to move the tumblers. Upon the base 11, surrounding the spindle 10, is the ratchet memberg3lof a click mechanism. finger 32 projects fromthe spindle for engagement with the ratchet. Above the finger 32 is a washer33 and between this and the top of cap 12 is placed Patented Aw. 12, 1919.

a'spiral spring 3 1 which serves to press the finger into the notches of the ratchet and to enter the spindle into the locking socket. The head of the spindle, 0r knob 100, is suitably milled to provide 'a gripping surface to assist in the manipulation of the look. I

In the drawings the spindle is shown in looking position. 7 'To unlock the steering gear the spindle must be lifted. out of; the

socket in the steering shaft 35. 'Such axial movement of the spindle can be effected only when restraining pin 21 is in line with the notch 19. At the same time the tumblers .must be in a certain definite'position to provide, by means of channelstherein, a pas--- sage for the arm 30. 1 Such channels or recesses are indicated at'36 and 37 Figs. 6 and 7 The channel 36 does .not extend clear across ring 23 and therefore does not interrupt the bearing surface'forspring 24..

The lock is manipulated as follows 2 Supposing it to have been set for the combination,5 left 3 right and that the starting point, and therefore the stopping point, is 00 on the dial, which with-respectto touch and sound means the smooth space 38 on the ratchet. Following the dial and starting with the arrow head 39, on the knob, at 00, the knob is turned to 5 during which movement finger 30 engages pin 26 and turns tumbler 23 so as to place recess 36 under 00. Then by reversing and turning the arrow head to 23 on the dial, the finger engages pin 28 and turns tumbler 22 so as to place recess 87 under 00 and in alinement with recess 36. Then on turning the arrow head back to 00, the arm 30 can be lifted into the alined recesses, and the spindle withdrawn from the socket in the steering is provided by the pockets 20 at either side of notch 19 into which pockets pin 21 would drop and be held instead of passing down through notch 19 and thereby allowing the lower end of the spindle to enter one of the locking sockets in the steering shaft when brought under it in directing the car.

The lock is operated by simply lifting the knob 100, enough to raise pin 21 out of a pocket 20, turning the arrow head to 00 and letting go of the knob, Pin 21 then passes through notch 19 and the spring 3% forces the end of the spindle into a locking socket. Three radial locking sockets are shown in the steering shaft whereby said shaft may be looked, as in Fig. 2, with the directing wheels straight ahead. The directing wheels may be locked to the right by using socket 40 or to the left by using socket 4:1. The spindle is then turned to upset the combination.

The ratchet or click mechanism has its notches arranged to correspond to the graduations of the dial. It is therefore useful in working out a combination by the dial since it halts the arrow head definitely at the graduations. Said mechanism however has a more useful function. It renders possible the operation of the combinations of the lock without the aid of the dial and even without any dial, since the stepping of the finger from notch to notch can be heard and also felt, thereby rendering the lock easily operable in the dark.

The zero, or the blank space 38, constitutes the usual starting point for a combination, as in the manipulation of the lock re- I cited. Any number however on the dial, or

any notch of the ratchet, may be taken as the starting point in operating a selected combination for which the lock has been set.

For example take 6 as the starting point for 00, then he counts around to 6, moves three steps to the left of that then back to 6 and two steps to the right of that. He may then turn the knob back to 00, or the finger to smooth space 38, and raise the spindle, the arm 30, entering the alined recesses 36, 37, in the tumblers and the restraining pin 21 passing through notch 19 to rest on ledge 18 as the knob is given the final twist to right or left to hold the spindle in unlocked position.

The combinations of a lock provided with a dial may be varied by removing screw 13 and rotating cap 12 to another position on the base, a succession of screw holes 45 being provided in the base for the screw 13. By providing screw sockets 16 and 47 in the respective tumblers, the screw pins 26, 27, 28 and 29 may be shifted through a still wider range of'combinations.

The lock of this invention is adaptable to universal use, other instances of its use, aside from the one above described, being typified in Fig. 8. Therein the spindle looks a sliding bolt, as 4-2, of a safe door 13, the handle 4 1 serving to throw back said bolt in the usual way in the act of unlocking the door. Thus the spindle may lock a locking bolt or as in the first instance it may itself serve as the locking bolt.

The invention claimed is 1. The combination of a rotary and axially movable spindle; combination tumblers actuated by the spindle and comprising concentric, rotatable rings each having a radial opening; an arm carried by the spindle adapted to enter said openings when the latter are in alinement; a pin projecting from the spindle; a casing having a cap member through which the spindle passes, said cap member having a notch through which said pin may pass, forming a fixed tumbler; an operating piece carried by said spindle ex tending over and adapted to conceal said notch; and a part to be locked by said spindle.

' 2. The combination of a rotary and axially movable spindle; combination tumblers actuated by the spindle and comprising concentric rotatable rings each having a radial opening; an arm carried by the spindle adapted to enter said openings when the lat ter are in alinement; a pin projecting from the spindle; a casing having a cap member through which the spindle passes, said cap member having a sunken flange provided with a notch through which said pin may pass, said flange forming a fixed tumbler; a knob carried by said spindle; and adapted to cover and conceal said notch, and a part to be locked by said spindle.

3. The combination of a rotary and axially movable spindle; combination tumblers actuated by the spindle and comprising concentric rotatable rings each having a radial opening; an arm carried by the spindle may pass, said spindle having an actuating 10 adapted to enter said openings when the latknob fitting the depression in the cap memter are in alinement; a pin projecting from her and extending over and concealing said the spindle; a casing comprising a pair of notch; and a part to be locked by said tubular members one fitting into the other, spindle.

one of said members serving as a cap for the In testimony whereof I have aflixed my 15 I other member and having a depressed outer signature.

portion, said depressed portion being provided With a notch through which said pin CLARENCE E. ANABLE.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of IPatents, Washington, D. G." 

